Our Trip to Romania

More than a month after our return, I finally have the chance to write about it. I have had so much other homeschooling matter to deal with on the blog, it has been hard to squeeze the trip about Romania in here.

The four of us at Hunedoara Castle, on a cold and rainy April day. Universal was filming Dragonheart 4 there, but most of the castle was open.

We had so much fun and covered so much territory, literally and symbolically, that it has been hard to express it all in one post. A series of posts will do, but for now, just an overall post should take care of business.

We spent 15 days in Romania and nobody got ill. Last time we were in Romania, my husband got really sick and this is a major reason why I refused to go there with small children. So this was our first time in Romania with the children. They loved it, we loved it.

Our daughter asked if we could go back and spend three weeks instead of two next time. Our son asked if we could go to the beach next time. We were in the mountains and the plains for most of the time. They loved every minute of it. Our son said “Romania is another dimension; just like the US, but better.”

During our trip, we visited 10 cities, 3 castles, 2 fortresses, and 8 out of my 12 cousins plus numerous aunts, uncles, and several friends from school. I also recorded three broadcasts at Speranta TV, a Christian Romanian TV station. The topics were 1) homeschooling, 2) raising children in two cultures and 3) my life story.

At Speranta TV with one of the moderators, recording a program about homeschooling.

My mom also flew in from Madrid, where she lives, so it really was like a family reunion. We rented a Mercedes van with automatic transmission, which seated 9 people. My sister and my nephew plus my mom and then the four of us and lots of luggage – we had plenty of room.

We used Rent Expres (only one s in Romanian) at the Henri Coanda (Otopeni) airport in Bucharest, in case you might want a rental car suggestion. We booked over the email and they called us to confirm a few weeks before the rental dates. They did not need a credit card or any other form of payment until we got there. They were professional and courteous and spoke very good English. I did not have to translate much for my husband.

It was lovely to catch up with everybody and to be in Romania again. The country has changed a lot in the 10 years since my last visit. I can tell the EU has poured a lot of funds into the infrastructure.

We flew Lufthansa and enjoyed it very, very much. The kids received wonderful coloring books and tangrams for the flights. The food was very good – we ordered veggie meals and they were delicious. Our itinerary was Charlotte-Munich, Munich-Bucharest, then back in the reverse order.

Layover in Munich

They also have lots of audio and video options, as every passenger gets their own screen with hundreds of movies, audio books, meditation and relaxation seminars, news, sports, and music. I am afraid we let the kids watch movies until they crashed, but hey, we did not want to hear “Are we there yet?” on a plane. Since we limit movies so much at home, they were glued to the screens and we did not hear a peep out of them until meal time.

I will definitely write other posts about our stay in Romania, as we found it extremely fun and educational.

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3 thoughts on “Our Trip to Romania”

Did you have any problem getting your car deposit back from Rentexpres after the hire period? Looking at their reviews, people either give them 5 stars or 1 star. More positive than negative luckily but a number of stories about mysterious scratches ‘found’ when the car was returned. We’re considering hiring from them next month.